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We Buy Books

Selling secondhand books to us

We buy good condition secondhand books over a range of subjects. It should be noted that our speciality is military history so our buying dollar is more likely to be spent in that area. We are also, however, keen on looking at books relating to fishing, Aboriginal history/studies/art, Australian local histories, bushranging, trains and railways, Australian history, and a wide range of other topics.

Ultimately, what we are after at any given time—and what we can purchase—depends on what gaps we have on our shelves and in storage! If what you wish to sell does not meet our needs, we will try to point you to appropriate outlets.

If you live locally, and only have a few books to sell (say, up to two boxes), you may bring them to the shop anytime during our opening hours of Wednesday to Saturday 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.

If you wish to bring in more than two boxes please ring to make an appointment.

Our shop is quite small, so if you have more than five boxes of books, we would prefer to arrange a home visit to appraise and quote.

When phoning to make an appointment to appraise your books at your home, it helps us if you can tell us how many books you have. If there are too many to count, an estimate of the linear metres will give us a good idea.

If your library consists of books on different subjects, please tell us what those subjects are.

If you don’t live in Canberra, we may ask you for a list of your books with specific details. We do visit interstate if the collection is of interest to us.

If you are only selling a portion of your collection, please separate these from those you don’t want to sell. It can be a disappointing experience for both of us if you have not, and can result in delays to the appraisal process.

Usually, our price offered is a total one, which takes into account all the books offered. If you want us to price something separately, please let us know beforehand.

Whether you bring books to the shop or we visit you, please note that we do not buy books in poor condition i.e. anything not attached to covers, that has heavy marking throughout, is water damaged or with any evidence of mould, that has torn or missing pages or plates. We only occasionally purchase ex library books.

A good usual test to determine if we would be interested in purchasing a less than pristine book is to ask yourself, would you yourself purchase that book from a secondhand bookseller? If, objectively you can’t see yourself buying a book in poor condition, chances are we would not want to purchase it either.

Please feel free to phone us first on 02 6290 0140 to discuss the books you wish to sell.

Selling new books to us

As well as secondhand books, we stock a range of carefully selected new military titles.

If you are about to publish or have just released a book relating to Australian military history, please email your release sheet, ordering terms and retail/wholesale price details to us at alexfax@alexanderfaxbooks.com.au

Please note: we only purchase new Australian titles from Australian publishers/authors. We prefer aviation and unit history titles, but will also consider other subject matter including Australian trout fishing and Canberra local histories. We no longer stock new naval titles, POW accounts, books relating to 19th century wars or the post-Second World War conflicts.